Oz (TV series)
Oz is an American television drama series created by Tom Fontana, who also wrote or co-wrote all of the series' 56 episodes. It was the first one-hour dramatic television series to be produced by premium cable network HBO. Oz premiered on July 12, 1997 and ran for six seasons. The series finale aired February 23, 2003. The show was filmed in New York City, New York and later Bayonne, New Jersey. "Oz" is the nickname for the Oswald State Correctional Facility, formerly Oswald State Penitentiary, a fictional maximum-security prison (level 4). The nickname is a reference to the classic film The Wizard of Oz, which is notable for popularizing the phrase: "There's no place like home"; in contrast, the series has used the tagline: "It's no place like home". In 2008, the show was placed at #73 on Entertainment Weekly's "New TV Classics" list. Movies * Oz: The Movie (2004 film). Starring: Jean Claude Van Damme, Simon Yam, Phillip Tan, Pierre Marais, Valorie Tian, Tony Schienna, Claude Hernandez, Lisa King and Tom Wu. * Oz 2: The Movie (2005 film). Starring: Lou Taylor Pucci, Tilda Swinton, Vincent D’Onofrio, Keanu Reeves, Kelli Garner, Benjamin Bratt, Vince Vaughn, Chase Offerle, Kit Koening, Nancy O’Dell and Walter Kim. Category: Oz TV Wikia * Oz 3: The Movie (2006 film). Starring: Nescati Sasmaz, Billy Zane, Ghassen Massoud, Berguzar Korel, Gurkan Uygan, Abdikarim Tahliiil, Diego Serrano, Kenan Coban, Ethan Ufak, Spencer Garrett, Gary Busey,Nusret Senay, Tayfan Eraslen, Tito Ortiz, Ismet Hurmzulu, Jihad Abdou, Yavuz Imsel and Mauro Martino. * Oz 4: The Movie (2007 film). Starring: Steven Seagal, Steve Toussaint, Angus MacInnes, Mark Bazeley, Ciera Peyton, Tim Woodward, Vincenzo Nicoli, Katie Jones, Gary Cooper, Barton Sidles, Cristina Teodorescu, Rares George Panfil, Noah Lee Margetts and Karen David. * Oz 5: The Movie (2008 film). Starring: Steven Seagal, Lydia Jordan, Lance Henriksen, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Blanchard Ryan, Arthur J. Nascarella, Paul Calderon, Mark Elliott Wilson, Wass Stevens and Niall Griffiths. * Oz 6: The Movie (2009 film). Starring: Steven Seagal, Tanoai Reed, Jenna Harrison, Danny Midwinter, Emma Catherwood, Stephen Hagan, Daniel Percival, Skye Bennett, Linden Ashby and Keith David. * Category: Oz. * Category: Oz. Plot The majority of Oz's plot arcs are set in "Emerald City," also a concept from The Wizard of Oz. In this experimental unit of the prison, unit manager Tim McManus emphasizes rehabilitation and learning responsibility during incarceration, rather than carrying out purely punitive measures. Emerald City is an extremely controlled environment, with a carefully managed number of members of each racial and social group, with the hope of easing tensions among these various groups. Under McManus and Warden Leo Glynn, all inmates in Em City struggle to fulfill their own needs. Some fight for power - either over the drug trade or over other inmate factions and individuals. Others, corrections officers and inmates alike, simply want to survive, some long enough to make parole and others even just to see the next day. The show offers a no-holds-barred account of prison life. All plots, subplots and conflicts are given context and explanation by the show's wheelchair-using narrator, Augustus Hill. Oz chronicles McManus's attempts to keep control over the inmates of Em City. There are many groups of inmates throughout the show and not everyone within each group survives the show's events. There are the African American Homeboys (Adebisi, Wangler, Redding, Poet, Keane, Supreme Allah) and Muslims (Said, Arif, Hamid Khan), the Wiseguys (Pancamo, Nappa, Schibetta, Zanghi, Urbano), the Aryan Brotherhood (Schillinger, Robson, Mark Mack), the Latinos of El Norte (Alvarez, Morales, Guerra, Hernandez), the Irish (the O'Reily brothers), the gays (Hanlon, Cramer), the bikers (Hoyt, Sands), and many other individuals not completely affiliated with one particular group (Beecher, Hill, Rebadow, Busmalis, Keller, Stanislofsky). In contrast to the dangerous criminals, character Tobias Beecher gives a look at a usually law-abiding man who made one fatal drunk-driving mistake. Episodes are narrated and held together by inmate Augustus Hill, who provides the show with context, thematic analysis and a sense of humor. The ensemble cast included Christopher Meloni, Ernie Hudson, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Harold Perrineau Jr., Eamonn Walker, Rita Moreno, John Lurie, Terry Kinney, Betty Buckley, Kathryn Erbe, Lee Tergesen, B. D. Wong, J. K. Simmons, Dean Winters, Scott William Winters, Kirk Acevedo, Erik King, Evan Seinfeld, David Zayas, Lauren Vélez, and Edie Falco. Eric Roberts, Joyce Van Patten, Method Man, Luke Perry, Master P, Treach, LL Cool J, Rick Fox, Dana Ivey and Peter Criss have made appearances on the show. Style Oz is primarily narrated by inmate Augustus Hill (Harold Perrineau, Jr.), former drug dealer, convicted murderer and former drug addict. Now paralyzed from the waist down and wheelchair-bound, he appears in surreal segments and introductions that usually relate to each episode's overall theme. He also sets up scenes, introduces characters and adds epilogues. When necessary — usually when a character is introduced — Hill appears as an omniscient narrator. Used as a literary device of the writers, he narrates details of characters' crimes, their inmate identification numbers and their sentences. Hill appears as a recurring character within the show's story lines until his death at the end of the fifth season; he and other deceased characters share narration duties throughout the final, sixth season. Hill's narrations break the fourth wall, as Hill addresses the camera (and thus the audience) directly, out of the fictional context of the scene. Hill also appears in scenes where he interacts with other characters in the story (in these, he does not address the camera). Only once did Hill appear to directly address another character with one narration; in the Season 3 episode "Unnatural Disasters," the character Simon Adebisi turns on a computer and sees Hill, dressed as a pharaoh and speaking to him. Adebisi was troubled by this event, but wrote it off as a drug-induced hallucination. Cast & Characters Main article: List of Oz (TV series) characters Cast members are billed in alphabetical order. Starring *Kirk Acevedo as Latino inmate Miguel Alvarez (Season 2–6; recurring season 1) *Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as inmate and gang leader Simon Adebisi, (Season 3–4; recurring season 1 & 2) *Ernie Hudson as Warden Leo Glynn (seasons 1–6) *Terry Kinney as Emerald City Unit Manager Tim McManus (seasons 1–6) *Rita Moreno as prison counselor Sister Peter Marie Reimondo (seasons 2–6; recurring season 1) *Harold Perrineau Jr. as inmate and narrator Augustus Hill (seasons 1–6) *J.K. Simmons as inmate and Aryan Brotherhood leader Vernon Schillinger (seasons 2–6; recurring season 1) *Lee Tergesen as inmate and former lawyer Tobias Beecher (seasons 1–6) *Eamonn Walker as inmate and wise devout Muslim Kareem Saïd (seasons 1–6) *Dean Winters as manipulative Irish-American inmate Ryan O'Reily (seasons 1–6) Reccurring *Malé B. Alexander as inmate and one of the gangs Homeboys shoot caller Junior Pierce (seasons 2-4) *Mason Adams as inmate Jaz Hoyt's father, Mr. Hoyt. His final acting role (season 6) *Mary Alice as Augustus Hill's mother Eugenia (season 5) *Tom Atkins as Mayor Wilson Loewen (season 6) *Betty Buckley as Suzanne Fitzgerald, Ryan O'Reily's mother (seasons 4–6) *Robert John Burke as FBI Agent Pierce Taylor (seasons 4–6) *Bobby Cannavale as the Latino inmate Alonzo Torquemada (season 6) *Reg E. Cathey as Emerald City Unit Manager Martin Querns, (seasons 4 and 6) *Anthony Chisholm as Homeboy leader Burr Redding (seasons 4–6) *Robert Clohessy as Correctional Officer Sean Murphy, (seasons 3-6) *Kevin Conway as Seamus O'Reily, Ryan and Cyril's abusive father (seasons 4–6; guest starring previously) *John Doman as Marine Colonel Edward Galson (season 4) *Lance Reddick as undercover cop Johnny Basil (season 4) *Kathryn Erbe as death-row inmate Shirley Bellinger, (seasons 2–4 and 6; guest starring previously) *Edie Falco as correctional officer Diane Wittlesey, (seasons 1–3) *Rick Fox as basketball player Jackson Vahue (seasons 4 and 6; guest starring previously) *Joel Grey as cosmos-minded inmate Lemuel Idzik (season 6) *Luis Guzmán as inmate and Latino gang leader Raoul "El Cid" Hernandez, (seasons 3–4; guest starring previously) *Taylor Harrison as inmate T.J. (season 1) *Željko Ivanek as Governor James Devlin (seasons 1–6) *Dana Ivey as Patricia Nathan, Dr. Nathan's mother-in-law. (season 4) *David Johansen as Eli Zabitz (season 4) *Simon Jones as Judge Mason Kessler (seasons 4 and 6) *Erik King as death row inmate Moses Deyell (season 4) *Olek Krupa as assassin Yuri Kosygin, (season 4) *LL Cool J as inmate Jiggy Walker (season 2) *Domenick Lombardozzi as inmate Ralph Galino, (season 4) *Gavin MacLeod as Cardinal Frances Abgott, (season 4) *Mark Margolis as inmate and mob boss Antonio Nappa, (season 3; guest starring previously) *John McMartin as Lars Nathan, Dr. Nathan's father-in-law. (season 3) *Christopher Meloni as Beecher's love interest Chris Keller, (seasons 3–6; guest starring previously) *George Morfogen as old inmate Bob Rebadow (seasons 2–6; guest starring season 1) *muMs da Schemer as inmate Arnold "Poet" Jackson (seasons 1-6) *Tony Musante as inmate and Mafia boss Nino Schibetta, (season 1) *Brian F. O'Byrne as Irish inmate Padraig Connolly (season 4) *Joyce Van Patten as Sarah Rebadow, Inmate Bob Rebadow's sister. (season 5) *Austin Pendleton as William Giles (seasons 3–5; guest starring season 2) *Luke Perry as Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier (seasons 4–5) *Leon Robinson as inmate Jefferson Keane, (season 1) *Jon Seda as wiseguy Dino Ortolani (season 1 and 6) *Lauren Vélez as prison doctor Gloria Nathan, (seasons 2–6, guest starring previously) *Sean Whitesell as inmate Donald Groves, (season 1) *Scott William Winters as Cyril O'Reily, Ryan's mentally disabled brother (seasons 3–6, guest starring previously) *J. D. Williams as Kenny Wangler, a 16-year-old who was sentenced as an adult for murder (seasons 1–4) *B.D. Wong as the prison chaplain, Father Ray Mukada. (seasons 1–6) *Michael Wright as drug addict Omar White (seasons 4–6) *David Zayas as inmate and leaders of the Latinos Enrique Morales (seasons 4-6) Episodes & Broadcast history Main article: List of Oz episodes Oz took advantage of the freedoms of premium cable to show material that was too excessive for traditional American broadcast television, including elements of coarse language, drug use, violence, male frontal nudity, homosexuality and male rape, as well as ethnic and religious conflicts.2 In Australia, Oz was screened uncensored on the free-to-air channel, SBS. This was also the case in Israel, where Oz was displayed on the free-to-air commercial Channel 2; in Italy, where it was aired on the free-to-air Italia 1; in the United Kingdom, where Channel 4 aired the show late at night; in Ireland, where the series aired on free-to-air channel TG4 at 11 p.m.; and in Brazil, where it was aired by the SBT Network Corporation, also late at night. In the Netherlands, Oz aired on the commercial channel RTL 5. In Sweden and Norway, it aired on the commercial channels TV3 and ZTV late at night, and in Finland, on the free-to-air channel Nelonen (TV4). In Canada, Oz aired on the Showcase Channel at 10 p.m. EST. In Denmark, it appeared late at night on the non-commercial public service channel DR1. In Spain, the show aired on premium channel Canal+. In Estonia, as well as Croatia and Slovenia, the show was aired late at night on public, non-commercial, state-owned channels ETV, HRT and RTV SLO. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was aired on the federal TV station called FTV. In Portugal, Oz aired late at night on SIC Radical, one of the SIC channels in the cable network. In France, the show aired on commercial cable channel 'Serie Club,' also late at night. In Turkey, Oz was aired on Cine5; DiziMax also aired the re-runs. In Serbia, Oz aired on RTV BK Telecom. In Panama, Oz aired on RPCTV Channel 4 in a late-night hour. In Malaysia, full episodes of Oz aired late at night on ntv7, while the censored version aired during the day. In New Zealand Oz aired on The Box at 9.30pm on Wednesdays in the early 2000s (decade). The program's relatively low number of episodes per season (eight each; sixteen in Season 4), is part of the trend in cable network programming, in which shows often feature shorter seasons than programs on American free-to-air channels, which typically feature sixteen to twenty-two episodes per season. On April 21, 2009, Variety announced that starting May 31, DirecTV will broadcast all 56 episodes in their original form without commercials and in high definition on the 101 network available to all subscribers. The episodes will also be available through DirecTV's On Demand service References in other media Music *The name of instrumental experimental rock trio Adebisi Shank is a reference to the Oz character. *Rapper Beanie Sigel - "I'm moving out like Adebisi on Oz." *Rapper Mannie Fresh references the show in the song lyrics of "Undisputed", featuring Baby, Lil Wayne, Lac, and Mikkey with the line: "I'm the greasey, Adebisi that's runnin' the tier". *Rapper Noreaga references the show in the song lyrics of "Nothin", with lines such as: "Only time they seen jail, when they watchin' Oz" and "Adebisi, want a brick you pay double easy". Television *The Arrested Development episode "Visiting Ours" featured a young, traumatized George Michael Bluth watching an episode of Oz, mistaking the show for the film The Wizard of Oz; consequently, George Michael spends the entire series petrified of prisons. *The episode "Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High" of Fox's Family Guy featured a story in which Lois believed her son Chris had killed a man, whereas it was actually the man's wife who committed the murder. Lois briefly contemplates calling the police but forgets it, stating "I can't call the police. I have to get rid of this body or Chris will go to prison, and we all know what happens in prison showers! I've seen Oz!"' The scene then cuts to a group of naked inmates scrubbing each others' backs in the shower singing a song to the tune to "Merry Old Land of Oz" from The Wizard of Oz. *In Gilmore Girls episode "Eight O'Clock at the Oasis", Lorelai's odd new neighbor, Dwight, comments about the unpleasantness of his former home. Lorelai later jokes to Rory that Dwight's former home was "Oz, and not as in the Wizard of." *''MADtv'' did two Oz parodies: one with Bill Cosby (Aries Spears) in jail in a skit called Coz, and another featuring Martha Stewart (Mo Collins) sent to the Oswald Correctional Facility, using her recipes and home decorating ideas to kill other prisoners. *In one episode of the American remake of Queer as Folk, Brian's nephew says he hopes Brian is sent to jail and anally raped by a black man. Justin comments that his parents must have HBO. *In an episode of the Adult Swim series Robot Chicken, a segment parodies Oz, starring the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz, who gets shanked with a shiv in the cafeteria. A later segment goes into more detail, with the Tin Man committing suicide, and the Scarecrow depicted as being raped. After the Cowardly Lion is beheaded, the Scarecrow kills the inmate responsible and is sentenced to death. As the Scarecrow is electrocuted, an onlooking Dorothy weeps and rubs her breasts on the window, fulfilling the Scarecrow's earlier request. *An episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live, hosted by Jerry Seinfeld, featured a skit parodying both Oz and the final episode of Seinfeld, in which Seinfeld's character is sent to prison. It was filmed on the actual Oz sets and featured many main actors from the series. *In The Simpsons episode "Pokey Mom", Chief Wiggum asks a criminal if prison is like what they show in Oz. *Another episode of The Simpsons, "The Seven-Beer Snitch", features Homer Simpson becoming a prison snitch and receiving a series of gifts and privileges, one of which is an "adorable little hat" identical to the one worn by Simon Adebisi in Oz. *In the HBO series Six Feet Under, characters David Fisher and Keith Charles are seen watching Oz and talking about the show, on occasion. *The South Park episode "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000", in which Eric Cartman gets sent to prison, features music from Oz during establishing shots of the prison. Trey Parker and Matt Stone state on that episode's DVD commentary that the staff of Oz were fans of South Park. *In the Season 3 episode of Stargate SG-1 entitled "Jolinar's Memories", which takes place in a hellish prison carved into a moon, Colonel Jack O'Neill says "Well... it's certainly not Emerald City." It can be debated that he references The Wizard of Oz (as he referenced it often during the course of the series), but the "medieval" prison setting, violently contrasting with the "clean and modern" look of this Oswald Penitentiary unit, tilts the balance in favor of the prison show. *''The Venture Bros.'' episode "Powerless in the Face of Death" features music similar to the Oz opening theme during a prison scene. *On the third season premiere of Will & Grace, Karen tells Rosario that she should be thankful to her for "springing her out of Oz," after Rosario was imprisoned for smuggling Karen's drugs, which was set up by Karen herself. *In a Season 3 episode of another HBO series The Wire, Omar Little and Dante are seen watching an intimate scene between Tobias Beecher and Chris Keller, from a Season 6 episode of Oz. Rights The series was co-produced by HBO and Rysher Entertainment, and the underlying U.S. rights lie with HBO, which has released the entire series on DVD in North America. The international rights were owned originally by Rysher, then Paramount Pictures/Television after that company acquired Rysher. CBS Paramount International Television currently owns the international TV rights, and Paramount Home Entertainment/CBS DVD owns the international DVD rights. DVD release HBO Home Video has released all six seasons of Oz on DVD in Region 1 and Region 2. The Region 1 releases contain numerous special features including commentaries, deleted scenes and featurettes. The Region 2 releases do not contain any special features. Soundtrack Main article: Oz (Soundtrack) '' A soundtrack containing East Coast, West Coast and Southern hip hop was released on January 9, 2001 by Avatar Records. It peaked at #42 on the Billboard 200 and #8 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. References General *Season 1, Episode 2, DVD Commentary on "Oz: The Complete First Season." *Season 2, Episode 5, "Oz: The Complete Second Season." Specific #^ [[|a'']] [[|''b]] Adam Dunn (21 February 2003). "The end of 'Oz'". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/21/oz.end/index.html. Retrieved 2009-10-21. #^ [[|a'']] [[|''b]] Bruce Fretts (11 July 1997). "Nasty As He Wanna Be". ''Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,288583,00.html. Retrieved 2009-10-21. #'[[|^]]' "Oz Production Notes". http://www.levinson.com/lf/oz/prod.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-05. #'[[|^]]' "The New Classics: TV". Entertainment Weekly. June 18, 2007. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20207339,00.html. Retrieved February 5, 2012. #'[[|^]]' MICHAEL SCHNEIDER (20 April 2009). "'Oz,' 'Deadwood' join DirecTV". Variety. Reed Business Information. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002639.html?categoryId=14&cs=1. Retrieved 2009-10-21. #'[[|^]]' "Oz - Original Soundtrack (2001)". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/#/album/original-soundtrack/oz/457653. Retrieved 2009-10-21. Category:Browse